Hello everyone,

remember that KV-1, that was recovered from river Don in cooperation between the museum of Kubinka, local authorities and Wargaming? They call it the “Spectre” (“Prizrak”) and here’s a video from RU portal on how it was recovered:

From the video:

- they found and detected it using a “magnetometer”
- the tank was from 1942, it drowned in the river apparetnly after it slipped from a barge that was carrying it (SS: if I understand it correctly)
- the tank is ripped to pieces because they used explosives to damage it (SS: so the Germans wouldn’t recover it? Not sure)
- the tank is “stuck” to the bottom of the water and it took considerable force to rip it out of the mud
- the special winch they used to pull it out used a force of 300 tons in pull
- the tow cable was attached to the towing frame on the tank, that remained intact
- there was a huge oak trunk blocking the tank recovery, that couldn’t be cut, in the end they dug under the trunk so that the river carried the trunk away

Warning, this post contains stronk drama, if you are here for news/serious info, you might want to skip it.

You’ve been warned.

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Author: Károly “Karika” Németh

The 38M. Toldi I light tanks, produced from 1939 to 1940, became completely obsolete and lost most of their combat value by 1944 with their 20mm Solothurn heavy rifle and only 13mm thin frontal armour. But, because of their relatively weak suspension, it was not possible to upgrade them with thicker armour and to mount an enlarged turret with a stronger 40mm gun on them like on the Toldi IIA light tanks, because their weak torsion bars just could not bear the additional weight.

The first series of the Toldi light tank, the Toldi I (80 vehicles in total) was assembled with imported, German-made torsion bars, which were unfortunately designed as a bit weak, and they tended to break during extensive usage. Furthermore, German shipments were always delayed at that time, because of the outbreak of WWII.

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Hello everyone,

I am sure you will be just thrilled to know that stronk EU portal programmink is back. Had this issue yesterday as well (“I want English, goddamn it, not Polish!”). Thanks to Falindria for the screenie.

One more important thing.

You might have noticed that cca 2 weeks ago, someone pledged 1000 USD to me on Patreon. I am not sure who that is, I tried to contact that person, but given the fact that it’s a lot of money and you just don’t give that away without an explanation and also due to the fact the entire system is purely voluntary (there is no “check” whether you really want to give anything or even have that money), I do have a reason to believe this pledge will not go through (I like to be pleasantly surprised as any other guy, but I am also a realist). To that end, I already contacted Patreon support to actually ask that account themselves, but at this moment, I think it’s realistic to assume that the pledge is still at the “old” sum, minus that 1k – so you know I don’t make a ton of money off FTR (I had such e-mails and comments), because I don’t.

Send your 9.1 replays at darthworas@gmail.com!

Hello everyone,

today, we’re going to have a look at another Czechoslovak post-war project, although this time, it’s from the 80′s. It was developed under the code name of STROP (“ceiling”).

By the time the idea that the Czechoslovak army should get a new AA vehicle was mentioned in the 70′s, the army was still equipped with the legendary vz.53/59 twin 30mm self-propelled AA autocannon on Praga chassis, also known as “Ještěrka” (lizard) – why was it legendary? This vehicle was extremely rugged and found its way all across the globe. This wheeled SP-AA vehicle did however some notable flaws, that were relevant to the Czechoslovak army. For starters, it could be operated in areas affected by WMD’s. Its targetting system could not be connected to the effective command structure to the army and the gunner of the vehicle is practically exposed to shell fragments and small arms fire.

And thus an idea was born to provide the army with something more effective in the AA role. However, the research was complicated, took time and so it was only in 1981 when it was finally decided to properly modernize the aging “Ještěrka” AA vehicle. The development was further complicated by the fact that the at that point, indigenous AA autocannons were not being developed for quite some time and that the electronics industry was not properly developed either.

In the end, the task to create a new AA vehicle was given to the Research Institute 010, specifically its 01 Department in Slavičín, in the cooperation with Research Institute 060 in Vyškov and other 010 departments. The project recieved a code name “STROP”. The task for these institutes from 1982 was “to propose a modern AA system, that can be manufactured from parts provided by Czechoslovak industry only and by the end of 1984 to build and trial a prototype”.

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Hello everyone,

need a freecam mod (free camera in replays) for 0.9.1? Here it is, thanks to Stormshadow:

http://ulozto.net/xgANQK7K/freecam-zip

Just download it and copy the archive contents into the res_mods folder. It’s activated by pressing F3 I think.

Control schematics:

Activation: F3 Key (unlock cam first with LMB click)

Bind to vehicle = N
Show Gun Marker = H
Show Marker = U
Set default Roll = R
Switch Inertia = P
Switch Land Camera = X
Switch Rotate Around Point = C
Set default Fov (Field of View) = F

Hello everyone,

this is a completely pointless piece of information, but it’s still somewhat interesting. Ever wondered, how Wargaming introduced the football mode ball into the game? Check this out.

Recognize this? This is the T-50-2, the former Soviet tier 5 light tank, that was removed from the game (and replaced by the MT-25), but its files are still present within the client, so, if you want to, you can view it for example using a Tank Viewer. Or, can you? The configuration depicted above is the elite configuration, but what happens when you switch the turret to stock?

That’s right… the ball, you are pushing around in the football mode is nothing else than a remodelled stock T-50-2 turret :) My guess is that the developers didn’t want to waste client space on yet another separate object and therefore chose to remodel a turret of a tank, that will not be ever used again (although – if alternative hulls are implemented – it might appear as one for the T-50). The ball has the nominal amount of 37mm of armor.

My another guess is that this was discovered as a by-product of the “ripped off turret” research, when the turret physics were modelled and the devs found out that they could have some fun with ripped off turrets – I remember reading of a case where two developers played some sort of “football” with a small turret during the development of this option and I guess that’s where this came from. Actually, it’s a pretty smart solution and the football idea was pretty funny.

If only it was not infested by AFK’ers, who use it to train that one crewmember… :(